Birders: The 40th St. Clair NWA CBC was held on Jan 1, 2020. A significant part of the circle is comprised of agricultural land which is not all that productive for most bird species, or private wetlands which often are not accessible due to the club's activities of the day. Nonetheless, seventeen birders scoured the areas available and came up with a total of 83 species observed on the day. This is slightly higher than the most recent 20 year average of 78 species but well below our highest of 93 species, recorded a year ago. An additional three species were seen during the count week. The total number of individual birds was 198597, slightly below our all time high of over 202000.
The weather was fairly good, with temperatures starting off a bit below freezing, and got slightly above freezing by the afternoon, although the brisk westerly wind made it feel much colder, and kept smaller birds under cover. There was a slight bit of snow at the beginning of the day. Creeks, the Thames River and Lake St. Clair were all open, and the wetlands were mostly open. Waterbirds are significant to the overall number of species, and this year did not disappoint, with 33 species. This included almost 62000 individuals of 23 species of waterfowl and over 4800 individuals of six species of gulls. There was only one new high for the count: Northern Pintail, which totalled 201 individuals. Highlights included: Yellow-headed Blackbird, a single bird and only the 3rd time recorded; Northern Saw-whet Owl, a single bird and only the 2nd time recorded; Bald Eagle totalled 39 individuals, our second highest total; Great Blue Heron, which totalled 36 individuals and is our third highest total; Red-headed Woodpecker, a single bird and the sixth time recorded. Snowy Owl, where 7 birds were recorded. Count Week species included Killdeer, Sandhill Crane and Golden-crowned Kinglet. Species which have been recorded at least 50% of previous counts but were missed on this one were: Ring-necked Pheasant, Red-shouldered Hawk, Brewer's Blackbird and American Robin. It was the first time in 18 years that no Am Robin were observed. American Crows took home the prize of being the most abundant species, which has been the case for many years. Our estimate of crows was 126000, although with the periodic disruption of birds coming and going to their roost, it is difficult to get accurate numbers. For anyone interested in background information on the huge crow roost in Chatham, check out a blog post which I wrote a few years ago, at: https://pawsnaturenuggets.blogspot.com/2014/11/tis-season-for-crows-and-lots-of-them.html Good birding! Allen Woodliffe, compiler Chatham _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
